'Loose Women' Sparks Backlash Over Comments During Trans Debate

‘Loose Women’ is facing a backlash after the panellists made a series of controversial comments during a debate about trans people.

Friday’s show saw Andrea McLean, Nadia Sawalha, Stacey Solomon and Gloria Hunniford discuss the recent NHS row that came after a Telegraph investigation revealed that those who self-identify as female have been allowed to stay on women-only hospital wards.

Despite saying she supported those who “choose” to be transgender, Gloria stated her belief is that if a “man still had his willy and his tackle, as far as I’m concerned, he/she is a man”, and should not be placed on a women’s ward.

Andrea remarked that she believes the choice of the majority was being taken away, explaining “nine people on a ward could be feeling uncomfortable for the sake of one”.

While Nadia said she felt sympathy for all sides of the argument, she went on to suggest that “another ward” for trans people could be a possibility.

Luckily, Stacey was on hand to offer a more informed insight, commenting that just because someone hasn’t had gender confirmation surgery, doesn’t mean they are not a woman, and called for trans women to be integrated, not segregated.

She said: “Just as you wouldn’t want to be on a ward with the opposite gender, these women, who identify as women but have different body parts, they feel exactly the same as you – the do not want to be on a ward with men, because they have always felt they are a woman.

“Should there have to be another ward, because if you identify as a woman, why aren’t you allowed to identify as a woman, and be a woman?”

The debate left many people feeling angry at the panel’s misunderstanding of gender issues, with some calling them out on social media:

As if I’ve just watched #LooseWomen in 2019 and heard Gloria Hunniford refer to trans women as he/she. If you don’t know which pronoun to use THEY is just fine. And if the whole pronoun…